Caroline Achaintre

Born in France in 1969, raised in Germany and based in England, Caroline Achaintre attended the Kunsthochschule in Halle, then the Chelsea College of Art and Design, and the Goldsmiths University of London. The artist is nourished by multiple and radically different cultural references that influence her approach. With her sculptures made of wool, ceramic and with her watercolours, the artist appropriates each space to install her hybrid creatures, transforming the exhibition space into a theater where a dialogue between different characters half-fantastic, half-ghostly can take place. Inspired at once by European carnivals, primitivism, German Expressionism and science fiction, Caroline Achaintre’s work on the one hand evokes the possible coexistence of several characters within a same being as well as the tensions generated by duality. No precise indication is given as to how to approach the work of Achaintre. We see in turn a mask, a garment, an animal… Her works have the particular feature of being difficult to define. At once abstract and figurative, they reveal anthropomorphic forms and indicate a particular interest for animism. The mutation of forms and the plurality of possible interpretations engage the mind and the whim of the viewer. This is the strength of Caroline Achaintre’s work: to question our own capacity to be in the world as individuals defined by complex and multiple identities.

Recent selected solo exhibitions include: ‘Caroline Achaintre - Roadrunner’, Nueus Museum, Nuremberg (2023), ‘Doppelganger’ Museum Lother Fischer, Neumarkt, (2023), ‘Inhabitants’, Encounter, Lisbon (2022-23), ‘Shiftings’ Kunstmuseum Ravensburg/Centre d’art Pasquart/CH (2021-2022), ‘Permanante’ CAPC, Bordeaux/FR (2020-21), ‘Vue Liquide’ Fondation Thalie, Brussels (2020), MO.CO., Montpellier/FR (2019); ‘Permanent Wave’ Belvedere, Vienna/AU (2019); ‘Phantomas’ De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-sea/UK (2018); FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims/FR (2017); ‘Caroline Achaintre’ BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead/UK (2016); ‘Caroline Achaintre’ Tate Britain, London/UK (2015); ‘Present/Future’ Castello di Rivoli, Turin/IT (2013).Recent selected group exhibitions include: ‘Threads’, Arnolfini, Bristol/UK – (Upcoming 2023), ‘L’Ile intérieure’, Villa Carmignac, Ile de Porquerolles/FR (2023), ‘Art Textile. Matérialité textile des années 1920 à aujourd’hui’, Kunsthalle Vogelmann/Musée municipaux d’Heilbronn/DE ; Kunsthalle Emden/DE (Upcoming), ‘Summer Exhibition 2022’, Royal Academy of arts, London/UK (2022), ‘Toucher terre, l’art céramique’, Fondation Villa Datris, L’isle-sur-la-Sorgue/FR (2022), Contre-nature : Contes et céramiques, MO.CO. PANACÉE, Montpellier/FR (2022), Mimicry—Empathy, Fraeme, La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille/FR (2022), ‘Influence, biennale du textile contemporain’, Oloron-Sainte-Marie/FR (2021), Sculpture en fête, Fondation Villa Datris, L’isle sur-la-Sorgue/FR (2021), ‘Rêve d’une fête’, Parcours Saint Germain ed.20, Paris/FR (2021), ‘60 years, Tate Britain’, London/UK (2021), ‘Les flammes. L’âge de la céramique’, MAM – Musée d’Art Moderne, ( Paris/FR (2021) ‘L’Âme primitive’, Musée Zadkine, Paris/FR (2021) ‘La couleur crue’, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes/FR (2021).

Her work is part of numerous public collections including: Centre Pompidou, Paris/France, CAPC, Bordeaux/FR; Tate Britain, London/UK; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Arts Council Collection, UK, Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris; FRAC Aquitaine, Bordeaux, and FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims.

Selected Work